CNN has learned Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is ordering a worldwide review of physical security measures at all US military installations in the wake of the attack at the Washington Navy Yard.

A senior Pentagon official tells CNN Hagel will order the military to look at all existing security measures to see if they are sufficient and to determine what other measures may be needed. Still to be determined is who will be put in charge of the review and the deadline for reporting back to Hagel.

At the same time, the Pentagon is still trying to determine what it needs to do to begin a parallel review of security clearances and access standards for contractors and other employees, according to a Defense Department official. Some elements of clearance procedures are handled by other parts of the government so coordination will be required, but the official said it’s expected some review of that element will also take place.

This follow an earlier confirmation from the Navy that it was beginning a similar physical security review at all of its installations.

soundoff(27 Responses)

Uh, how about reversing Clinton's order that military personnel not be allowed to carry firearms on base? At least we could try and reduce the number of fatalities if something like this happens again.

In reality, this all starts from the recruiter that recruited this clown in the first place. If he'd been in trouble in '04 with a gun but was recruited in '07, the recruiter should've never of allowed him in. Secondly, it doesn't matter if he'd been in trouble for minor things it would've not allowed him to get a security clearance to have access to the base but major stuff like his gun trotting ordeal in Texas over the construction, hell yeah that should've definitely been a red flag. I've had my share of run ins with the law and served honorably for 12 years before being medically retired. So should that exclude me from government work since I had run ins with the law years ago? So then almost all you trolls are saying ANYONE WHO EVER BROKE THE LAW REGARDLESS OF THE CRIME SHOULDN'T GET A GOVERNMENT JOB OR HAVE CLEARENCE? OK, like all you law abiding people are honest , trust worthy, law abiding citizens and are the only ones who should hold jobs of those positions. Let me tell you something I'd have more faith in some convicts before I would some goodie goodie with my life that's for damn sure.YES, gun control is an issue in this country, but that recruiter should be hemmed up for allowing this a$$ clown in the Navy to begin with.

We virtually have a police state. Look around and all one sees are police dogs and automatic weapons and yet the killings continue. The bureaucrats muddle around creating useless programs and then order reviews to figure out what went wrong. What is this latest review going to cost the taxpayer and is it going to make any difference?

This is what happens when you take duty stations away from the active duty personnel and give it away to contractors. The DoD and DoN came up with the idea that to start jobs in the civilian sector so they cut the Navy duty stations and come up with things like PTS(Perform To Serve) and ERB to cut Navy personnel and pay, benefits, housing, medical for veterans and lowpay for medical retired service connected disabilities veterans to make way for military contractors and sub-contractors that get paid twice as much as civilian jobs. If it was a navy personnel standing watch instead of some hourly dude standing there it wouldn't of happened. Get my drift!!

ChiTownKid, you do realize that the gunman had a valid badge to enter the base, right? So, I don't see how the argument of military security vs. civilian security makes any difference in your message, since either security element would have likely allowed the gunman to enter. Additionally, I was in the military and left to become a contractor. This age-old debate that the military makes so much less money than contractors is not perfectly legitimate. I once held the views you did too, but since I no longer receive any military benefits, such as money for housing (this is huge), meals, commissary privileges, nor the annual uniform upkeep stipend. Additionally, with the lower net pay in the military, this puts you in a lower tax bracket, so you're not getting taxed as much as you would as a normal civilian that has the same standard of living.

Additional food for thought: The entire U.S. military is not an "All Volunteer" force. Yes, that is false advertising. Every military member IS a contractor. Think about it. You signed a 'contract' stating that you will serve X number of years. Now, get this, if you do not serve that full X number of years, you get punished administratively. So, effectively, you're just a locked-in contractor. I respect our servicemembers and our military, but I get tired of hearing how horrible contractors are, when the whole system relies on highly specialized contract employees, as the military is simply not designed to handle (i.e., the lack of continuity beyond a 3-4 year tour and usually less of a focus on high-skill technical positions).

Lastly, this horrible tragedy isn't really about a "bad" contractor... The gunman was previously in the military (Navy). The focus should be more about his mental state of mind and how to prevent against similar attacks, such as more random searches and the like. Most of these mass shootings are from mentally deranged individuals that get access to a firearm. So I, for one, would like to stop hearing stories about state jails/prisons being used to house the mentally ill, as there are not enough mental health clinics available, so they send the rest of the patients to jail/prison. Yes, this actually happens and it obviously makes no sense!

You're wrong ChiTownKid....the decision to hand off some of these jobs to contractors (or take them away from service members) was made at a Town Hall meeting hosted by Donald Rumsfield in 1999 or 2000. The jist of it was to allow the military service men and women to get back to the business of performing military roles. The military cannot afford to keep up with the training requirements for some of these specialized positions.....technology changes almost daily, and the contract work force is required to acquire (and maintain) their certifications out of their own pockets! Not to mention the reduction in overal government spending when you consider that military personnel are afforded free health care, plus retirment, and other benefits that are NOT paid to contract staff. Do some reseach before you start spouting off nonsense.

The Navy should take possession of all the "naked body scanners" WE already paid for now that the TSA has abandoned them! Put them in use at military installations. Any idiot should be able to see a shotgun or assault rifle on the screen! Oh, I forgot, if for military use these machines would have to be rebuilt to strict military specs costing hundreds of millions of dollars (just to print and apply a sticker). Apparently the Washington Naval Yard only relied on flashing an ID card, nothing more! Just come on in with all your weapons, how about some Sarin gas?
We have the same very lax security at our international airports. If you, an American citizen, wants to leave the country you are scanned, inspected even patted down. However, if you are a foreigner arriving from abroad, no such scrutiny exists. Just show your papers and "welcome to America"! Sure, your bags may be sniffed by trained dogs (seldom, but sometimes), but no one is xrayed, body scanned nor pat down searches – NO! Only American citizens are treated this way when trying to leave the country or travel domestically. No foreign arrivals are required to take off their shoes and belts. no carry on bags are scanned! Very backward, isn't it? What are we doing?

They need to readjust the working hours and stop having a "rush hour". There is a ton of stuff smuggled into and out of US Navy bases when that whistle blows. Enough to end the sequester. The MP's are completely overwhelmed at rush hour and wave most people through. Something needs to be done to give the MP's the time to do their job properly.

I'm seeing a lot of folks quick to blame contractors for security breaches in the wake of this incident and the Snowden leaks. No doubt the system is flawed but let's not overlook the fact that there have been traitors across all walks – military, government civilians and of course contractors. Several examples can be found in the likes of Aldrich Ames – CIA, Robert Hansen – FBI, John Walker – US Navy and of course most recently Edward Snowden – contractor and Bradley (Chelsea) Manning – US Army. As far as mass killings go we've seen US Army NCO's convicted of killing unarmed Afghan civilians (Bales – 16 Afghans) and fellow soldiers (Russell – 5 soldiers Camp Liberty, Iraq). Then there's the case of Nidal Hassan who killed 13 fellow soldiers at Ft. Hood before being stopped by contracted security. Let's not be too fast to point the finger of blame at those "dirty contractors." Many of them served honorably before retiring or ETSing prior to taking work as a contractor. I'd encourage everyone that's so quick to denigrate contractors to remove their heads from their fourth point of performance and let the professionals determine the point or points of failure. There's plenty of blame to go around. Get a grip.

Common sense says a military base shouldn't need to wait for a swat team to be secured. It is a military base. You would expect to see guys with guns everywhere just standing guarding stuff looking tough. Could always enforce a no weapon rule, and install turrets. With face tracking , object identification etc it should be insta death to fire a weapon in a gov building. With or with out AI turrets , the bottleneck to securing the places is either NO guns, or EVERYONE carries. Quite simple. Work in the military complex they train you to carry. But I like the turrets personally. Could even work in lasers. 🙂

You forget this happened in D.C.???? Toughest gun laws in the country did nothing for the victims. Way too many civilians working in the yard for everyone to carry but, I am curious how he did get off that many shots. Security must have been contracted out to the cheapest bid.

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CNN's Security Clearance examines national and global security, terrorism and intelligence, as well as the economic, military, political and diplomatic effects of it around the globe, with contributions from CNN's national security team in Washington and CNN journalists around the world.